Making Pennies Shine Again

Who doesn’t like the sight of  freshly minted coins? The shinny pennies have fascinated more than one child. However did you know that even the old, dull and rather grimy looking pennies can also be made to shine again? Here’s how you would do so.

Collect all the old and dirty pennies that you can find. Your parents are sure to have some in their wallet or purse. Now get a flat plastic bowl or container. Pour some white vinegar into the plastic container and add a spoonful of salt to it. Stir to dissolve the salt and then add the pennies to the solution.

Let it stand for about ten to fifteen minutes. Now remove them from the solution and wash them in regular water from the kitchen tap. Now wipe them off with a paper kitchen towel. All the grime and dirt would have come off leaving you with a few really shinny new coins.

The science behind this trick is simple. The coins have  a layer of copper oxide on them which gets dissolved in the acid from the vinegar as it reacts with the salt.  This chemical reaction is what cleans out all the dull coating from the pennies leaving them in mint fresh condition.